Field
Various features relate to solar radiation control and energy harvesting film.
Background
Over the past few decades, solar energy has attracted keen attention because it is a unique, clean, and sustainable energy resource. It is also widely utilized as a power source in a space exploration There are two feasible approaches in utilizing solar energy, (1) photo-electrical (photovoltaic) conversion, and (2) thermoelectric (TE) conversion. The photovoltaic (PV) conversion is a method of generating an electrical voltage (i.e., electrical power) by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity using semiconductors that exhibit a photovoltaic effect. Typically, photovoltaic power generation uses solar panels composed of a number of solar cells containing photovoltaic material. The thermoelectric (TE) conversion is a method of generating an electrical voltage (i.e., electrical power) based on a spatial temperature differences. Specifically, a thermoelectric device may generate an electrical voltage based on the temperature difference on two separate sides of the thermoelectric device.
Despite the many advances related to solar energy/power generation, there are drawbacks and limitations to current solar energy and/or power generating methods and devices. For example, numerous inorganic energy harvesting materials have been developed to increase the efficiency at which electrical power can be generated from solar energy. However, these inorganic energy harvesting materials have poor mechanical properties (e.g., brittle), poor processibility, heavy weight low efficiencies, and/or high costs, which limit their applications, especially space based applications.
Therefore, there is a need for a novel device and/or method that provides better solar energy harvesting properties (e.g., more efficient) than current solar energy harvesting methods. Ideally, such a device and/or method will have good mechanical properties (e.g., flexible), good processibility, light weight, better efficiency, easy to manufacture and/or low costs.